OFFICE OF SURGEON-GENERAL

                                                               WITH THE GOVERNMENT OF MADRAS,

                                                               OOTACAMUND, 28th May 1891.

                                             No. 368.

From

                           W. F. DE FABECK, ESQ., M.D.,

                                    Surgeon-General with the Government of Madras,

                                                               Ootacamund,

To

                           THE CHIEF SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT,

                                             Judicial Department.

SIR,

         I HAVE the honour to forward, for the information of the Right Honourable
the Governor in Council, the annual report on the Lunatic Asylums in the
Madras Presidency for the year 1890.

         2.   ACCOMODATION.—The accommodation for civil lunatics was sufficient to
meet the requirements in the three asylums. The buildings in all the asylums
were kept in good repair; in Madras four new cottages were erected for contagious
diseases and for lunatics under observation, and the asylum was provided with a
supply of water from the Red Hills tank.

         3.  GENERAL RESULTS.—The total number of admissions and discharges in the
three asylums during the year is shown in statement No. I, from which it will be
seen that there were—

         The largest number of admissions was in the Madras Asylum, where 142
insanes were received; in Calicut there were 41 and in Waltair 7, Of the 7
re-admissions 4 were into the Madras and 3 into the Calicut Asylums.

         The admissions, including re-admissions, show an increase of 52 as compared
with the previous year. The following table shows the number of admissions
exclusive of re-admissions in each of the asylums for the last ten years:—

         If any inference could be drawn from this table, it would appear that there
has not been an increase of insanity amongst the people of this Presidency during
the last ten years proportionate to the increase in the population. This would
be at variance with the experience of European countries, where an increase in